LETTER: A theatre that walks on water

From Mr Adrian Cairns

Sir: It seems most unlikely that the stratagem of the players to transport the large timbers of the dismantled theatre at Shoreditch to the Southwark side of the river for the new Globe in December 1598 went on carts via the difficult, if not impossibly restricted, route of the old London Bridge (Site Unseen, 22 August).

More probable, for the dead-of-night surreptitious operation, is that they assembled the timber at master-carpenter Peter Streete's yard at St Paul's wharf (he built both theatres) and simply trundled it across the Thames which, as I understand, was fortuitously frozen that winter.

Yours truly,

Adrian Cairns

Henbury, Bristol

22 August